New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-09-18
DECADENCE OF CREEDMOOR.
MANY REASONS FOR ITS SLOW DECLINE.


FAMOUS SHOTS" OF OTHER DAYS
A dreary fat waste Of snow. with line o.
gaunt targets standing disconsolate scntinels In
the background, two or three deserted frame
houses, and rows OF naked trees, with their bare
arms interlaced in cold embrace-this is Creed
moor in the dead Of winter. Sometimes starved
| rabbit strays from the neighhoring ridge OF wood
that runs through Long Island like backbone
and lunches his lean form beneath one Of the
big black spotted iron frames. by diligcnt dig
ging he may discover old bullet to whet his
teeth on Perched on the iron rim overhead q
hungry hawk watches him with a wicked brown
eye. Hawks chances of square meal are much
the better.
But when the winter is past and when the
rain has washed out the last snow patch from
the plain, and when the crckets chatter In the
spring grass, and when with the budding of the
leaves the singing of birds is come. then Creed
moor awalxens and begins to stir into gradually
increasing life. The rabbit has taken to the
green woods and the hawk to the heavens; and
pingl the first sharp rife report rings out, and
announces the beginning Of the shooting season.
About a mile and half from CreedmoOr lies
Queens, sleepy station on the Long Island
Railway. The road from the village to the range
is better imagined than described. The rocky
road to Dublin" isn't worth singing about COM
pared with 1t. 1t Is narrow; but nevertheless
to teams on q dark night, unless the Jehu cxer-
cises extraordinary caution, 1t leads unto almost
certain destruction. Shades OF McAdam, the
Colossus of Roads, why can't the authorities give
few stone breakers employment down there
The very first annexed to the decadence
Of Creedmoor is its inaccessibility to which this
road that is road contributes.
Creedmoor is undoubtedly hard to get at.
Formerly branch railway ron directly TO 1t;
but Of recent years this has been discontinued
A stranger attempting TO make the range frou
New-Yorl< has to 60 to Long Island City by
James Slip or Thirty -fourth-st ferry. thence
travel to Queens by rail- with a probable change
of cars at Jamaica, and lastly he has to brave
the Queens ighway and the extortion Of hack
men. combination that might make the bravest
man wilt. Moreover. the New-York ferrymen are
all agnostics on the question Of how TO get there
BY dlligent asking would-be visitor becomes
convinced that Creedmoor Is as obscure as DON
Delly's Baconian Shakespeare cipher; but II he is
persistent enough he'll get there at last And
what does he seei Picturesque groups of uni
formed men clustered around the line Of firing
points facing the targets To the west are the
short distances, to the east the long distances.
The marksmen. stretched prone, supine, or stand
ing erect fire in turn. and as the lead rattles
upon the iron the shooter anxousy looks through
his field glass; o red, white or black disc is
displayed from the marking pit beneath the
forget, and the marks up hullseeye, centre,
inner. outer, ricochet or miss on blackboard,
and transfers the record to the card. II the
marksman Is firing at O canvass target the value
of the shot is recorded on cock-lilSe dial Late.
There are now eleven iron short
range, eight canvas short range, twenty
one long range 900 TO- 1000 yards
distance), and three targets for revolver
matches Two Of the canvas short range are
available MS frst-cass or long range II required.
Canvi Is gradually ousting iron at Creedmoor.
and eventually It will be used for ell distances
except perhaps the 500, 600 and 1000 yards.
The canvas targets are found to work very salts
factorily. In wet and "muggy" weather iron
targets will not dry. and the bullseye soon
gets TO be indistinct. Last week at the National
Rife Associations fall meeting this was fertile
source OF complaint. Again, canvas has an adj
vantage over iron In being able to take re-
markably close shot. and this gets scoring down
so Rnc" that 10. and may be recorded. all
within the bull green hand leveng his
first gun at canvas may De liable TO think that
he has shot his target away. When the bullet
goes home the disc disappears as If the earth had
swallowed it. But in a second duplicate hobs
up serenely. Each canvass target is double and
works like jaclSin-t he-box.
Competitors shoot in pairs, and each has his
own target. Number one fires, his target sinks
and the duplicate rises the arrangement being
something like that of window. only by
system OF chains as one sash goes down the other
at the same time goes up. Meanwhile the hand
OF a dial numbered from one to ten indicates the
value Of the shot. and the marker below aifXes
O red disc on the bullet hole SO that when the
target rises the frer is able to see for himself
what he has done While all this is going on
number two has been taking his shot at at his
target; down il goes, and the marker removes
the red circlet the last bullet hole, puts
"pastern on it, and afixes the red mark on the
new shot This seems an intricate process; but
in practice it works admirably, and fast scoring
can be made. Some OF the old conservative men,
however, prefer to hear the ring" of their
bullet on the iron and IL look through the glass
to see where their fire has struck. canvas
target is durable. 1t will stand 10000 shots
before il has to be replaced Other improvements
besides canvas targets facilitate matters for
the marksmen OF 1887. There is a great change
for the better in the quality of the ammunition
SUPPLIED. and it helps the men to do much better
work. There has been just as great change
for the better in the military guns, though the
small borcs or sporting" rifles are just the same
as they have been for number of years There
has not been much change in positions. For
long range the prone position Is still the one
most generally used Some, but not a great
many, have ado ted the supinc or back position
with which Scotsmen are SO successful AT
short distances the standing position is the
only one allowed.
But after all, more depends on the man than
on the rifle, target ammunition or position and
IL is, 10 say the least, doubtful whether more Is
under impr wed conditions than was
done by the men Of ten, twelve, and fifteen years
ago. Creedmoor in its fifteen years existence
has seen many phenomenal records and evolved
many brilliant shooting stars. Many OF the ola
ha on